Creative Director Joe Zee challenges the new season's crop of All on the Line designers to a personal style-off incorporating signature pieces from their latest collections

Back in the late '80s, I read an interview with Donna Karan about why she was leaving Anne Klein to start her own line. I'll never forget her reason: She wanted to design clothes she'd want to wear herself. She wanted to be her own muse. This month in season three of my original Sundance Channel series, All on the Line With Joe Zee (Monday nights at 9 P.M.), I again provide guidance to a slew of advice-seeking designers. Over the course of my career, one thing I've come to appreciate is that the most focused, successful designers are those who design with authenticity. They use their own personal style (what I like to call "PS") to create something fresh and unique. In other words, fashion is not the place to fake it till you make it.

One person who I think is the real deal (and who has proven her critics seriously wrong) is Nicole Richie, who appears in one of this season's final episodes. Already enjoying success with her contemporary clothing and accessories lines, Winter Kate and House of Harlow 1960, respectively, Nicole is now tackling the home shopper, with a QVC line. When she brought me in to provide a third-party opinion as she geared up for the big launch, I was reminded of that old Donna Karan quote. Nicole's designs work because everything she makes is a reflection of her PS—they're not just what she thinks others might want. In celebration of All on the Line's new talent, I thought it would be fun to feature a defining item from each of their current collections three ways: as the designers themselves would wear it; as they'd style it on a model; and finally, my way—to demonstrate just how transformative PS can be.